Cinda Securities shocks with the “Director Office Gate” case: a celebrity analyst is accused of sexually harassing a female subordinate, and a $20 billion merger deal faces a “black swan” event

On March 25, 2026, a long self-identified whistleblower letter of several thousand Chinese characters went viral in the financial sector. It concerns a case of alleged sexual harassment. The whistleblower is Tang, an employee of the research institute of Cinda Securities (601059). The person accused is her direct superior—Zuō, the head of the research institute of Cinda Securities and the chief analyst for energy.

According to Tang’s account and the “Receipt of Case (Incident) Report” issued by the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, the alleged sexual harassment incident occurred on the night of March 24. The location was at and around the Holiday Inn on Dongfang Road 899 in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area.

A Night of Horror on a Business Trip in Shanghai

In the whistleblower letter, Tang gave a detailed reconstruction of what happened. After a dinner party on the evening of March 24 ended, while riding back to the hotel in a car, Zuō touched her hand first, saying, “You look really nervous—relax,” and then gradually escalated the assault to her intimate parts. After Tang clearly resisted, Zuō did not stop.

After arriving at the hotel, matters escalated further. In the hotel lobby, Zuō publicly grabbed and pulled Tang, demanding, “Go back to my room.” When Tang refused and ran toward outside the hotel, Zuō caught up, trying to forcibly push her into the back seat of a taxi. During the incident, Zuō even said a terrifying remark such as, “Don’t worry—just get an injection.”

Fortunately, the hotel security guard at the entrance stepped in promptly to stop and control Zuō. Tang managed to escape, hid by entering a nearby hot pot restaurant to seek help, and then reported to the police. The case receipt indicates that after the police arrived, they took Zuō away for investigation.

In the letter, Tang emphasized that Zuō is highly respected in the research institute and the industry. Before the incident, she had always believed that the other party was “a decent person who looks after subordinates,” and that she did not accept any form of internal “settlement” behind closed doors, adding that she believed the police could deliver justice.

“Down-the-Mine Doctor” Sparks a Major Scandal

The protagonist of this incident, Zuō, is not an ordinary employee but the “soul figure” of the research institute of Cinda Securities.

Public information shows that Zuō has a PhD degree from China University of Mining and Technology. He previously served as a deputy director-general (in charge of work) of the industry consulting division of the China Coal Industry Association, and has more than ten years of research experience in the coal and energy sectors. He joined Cinda Securities in 2016 and has been responsible for the large-energy sector research since 2019, delving into the front line of coal mines year-round.

In 2021, Zuō suddenly “went mainstream” in a cooperation livestream between a fund company and Cinda Securities. He wore miners’ clothes, a safety helmet, and spoke online with investors at a coal enterprise in Pingdingshan, Henan. The livestream drew more than 200,000 views. At the time, there were voices questioning whether the livestream had “staged” elements. In response, Zuō said, “Going down the mine is my research style. Only by going down the mine, putting on the miner’s uniform, wearing rubber boots, putting on a miner’s lamp and hard hat, and bringing gloves, a towel, a gas detector, and a self-rescuer—only then, by chatting with workers on the work face, can you talk about the real conditions of the coal mine.” After that, Zuō fully went mainstream, and the industry began calling him the “Down-the-Mine Doctor.”

It was precisely because of his rich “down-the-mine” experience that, after he entered sell-side research, he led Cinda Research to build distinctive capabilities in the energy and chemical industry characterized by in-depth industrial research, value research, and special-opportunity research, accumulating an excellent market reputation. The company’s research business also actively enabled the group investments of Cinda International (01359), helping bring to the ground hundreds of billions of yuan in industrial investment projects.

In July 2025, Zuō had just been promoted to head of the research institute of Cinda Securities. During an interview then, he talked at length about “long-termism,” stressing that “we must, with a craftsman’s spirit, persistently do one thing well over the long term.” He said, “Research should believe in the value of time; dare to make decisions based on value when others abandon you and take what others discard; dare to make research decisions against the cycle. We do not care too much about short-term ups and downs—we keep working hard to conduct forward-looking, in-depth research.”

However, only eight months later, this star analyst who had touted “long-termism” on his lips was taken away by the police on suspicion of sexually harassing a female subordinate. Such a huge contrast not only shook Cinda Securities internally, but also embarrassed the entire sell-side research industry.

A Reputation Blow at the Critical Merge Period

The timing of this scandal was extremely sensitive—it coincided with the critical period when Cinda Securities was being merged into CICC Group (601995).

In November 2025, CICC Group announced that it planned to absorb and merge Dongxing Securities (601198) and Cinda Securities through a share-swap. This was a major initiative in the “Huijin” brokerage consolidation, aimed at creating an aircraft-carrier-level brokerage and enhancing international competitiveness.

According to the announcement, as of March 2026, the audit and other work related to the merger had not yet been completed. This means the transaction was in the most sensitive stage of due diligence and compliance review. In brokerage M&A and restructuring, the “compliance” of the target assets is at the very top of regulatory scrutiny. Although Zuō’s personal conduct does not directly constitute a financial issue for listed company Cinda Securities, as a core executive of the company, his alleged serious illegal and criminal conduct would have a major negative impact on Cinda Securities’ “corporate governance” and “reputation.”

Cinda Securities’ incident is not a one-off. From earlier labor dispute cases involving Sinotel Securities, to repeated employee personal-life scandals and compliance incidents involving Founder Securities (601901), moral risks among executives in the financial industry have long existed. As head of the research institute, Zuō had absolute control and discretion over Tang, a young female employee who only joined the company in 2023. This sort of “superior-to-subordinate” infringement based on power is the most common and also the most covert form of workplace harassment.

As of the time of publication, The Economic Observer reported that related officials of Cinda Securities said that “the company has noticed the circulated online information. It has now paused all work of Zuō Yi, and has also initiated an internal review. At the same time, it will actively cooperate with the relevant work of the public security authorities.”

At the end of her whistleblower letter, Tang wrote: “I still carry the heart of a pure and innocent child. I am still outraged and think, in a pure and naive way, that there is still a shred of justice in this world.” And for Cinda Securities, which is right in the critical period of the merger, and for the former star head who had “gone down the mine a hundred times,” this storm can no longer be easily put to rest.

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